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Association of American State Geologists 2011 Annual Meeting
Opening Business Session Minutes
Monday, June 13th, 2011
Dubuque Convention Center, Dubuque Iowa
Meeting called to order at 8:05 AM by President Jim Cobb
· Welcoming address by Host Bob Libra
· Roll call by Secretary Swenson
o States Represented: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin – 38 states
o Quorum confirmed
· Opening Address by President Cobb
o Recognition of new members
§ Wallace Ulrich, Wyoming; George Love, Pennsylvania;
o Recognition of Acting State Geologists
§ Greer Price, New Mexico; Peter McLaughlin, Delaware; Rick Chormann, New Hampshire; Langhorne Smith, New York; Rex Buchanan, Kansas;
o Recognition Honorary Members Present
§ John Bluemle, Bill Bush, Jim Davis, Robert Fakundiny, Mimi Garstang, Don Hoskins, Bill Kelly, Don Koch, Morris Leighton, Robert Milici, Jay Parish, Sam Tuthill, James Williams, David Wunsch
o Recognition of New and attending AASG Associates
§ Scott Ausbrooks, Arkansas; Chris Koteas, Massachusetts; Andrew Kozlowski, New York; Barb McClain, Kansas; Annette Delaney, Kansas; Michael Young, Texas; Guy Means, Florida; Todd Thompson, Indiana; Matt Joeckel, Nebraska; Jack Pashin, Alabama; Bennett Bearden; Alabama; Donald Keefer, Illinois; Richard Berg; Illinois, Jerry Weisenfluh, Kentucky; John Kiefer, Kentucky; Ian Madin, Oregon; Marvin Miller, Montana; Randolph Steinen, Connecticut; Edward Swinford, Ohio;
· Approval of Minutes -Secretary Swenson
o 2010 Annual Meeting Minutes were sent to the members and posted on the website for review.
§ Swenson asks for discussion; none
§ John Steinmetz moves to approve 2010 Annual Meeting Minutes; seconded by Nick Tew: Minutes approved unanimously
o 2010 Midyear Meeting Minutes were sent to the members and posted on the website for review.
§ Swenson incorporated edits by Don Hoskins and asks for additional discussion; none
§ Vicki McConnell moves to approve 2010 Midyear Meeting Minutes; seconded by Harvey Thorleifson: Minutes approved unanimously
· Appointment to committees to serve during annual meeting – President Cobb
o Auditing Committee - Vince Mathews was appointed to the Auditing committee
o Resolutions Committee – Mike Hohn will serve on the Resolutions committee
o Balloting Committee – Nick Tew and Ed Deal will serve on the Balloting committee
Officer Reports
· Statistician - Rick Allis
o See report http://www.stategeologists.org/Group/meeting_documents.php?id=38
o Key Points
§ Responses were received from 45 states
§ Gaps are seen in some trends because of inadequate responses during the period 2002-2005
§ There is a new, important category this year; student employment
§ Total SGS revenue is strong @ $234 mm for FY10; $245 mm estimated for FY11
§ Increase due to new federal programs: e.g., CO2 and Geothermal
§ However, there was an overall decrease in state appropriation: $102 mm in 2008 to $89 mm in 2011
· State dollars make up 36% of total revenue picture
· Inflation adjusted state appropriation increased from $71mm to $88 mm over last 50 years
§ Total revenue picture shows more diversified funding sources over last 50 years
§ Staff numbers show general decline since 1980’s from 2900 FTE to 1980FTE in 2011
§ Gender balance remained constant over last 4 years and students make up 11% of FTEs
§ Publication Sales have dropped notably since 2007: $3.5 mm to $1.2 mm in 2011
§ Jim Cobb commends Harvey Thorleifson for previous statistical work and Rick Allis for continuing to improve our database
· Historian -Vacant
o Jim Cobb reports that the Historian position has been vacant this past year so there is no report
§ However, Michael Bograd has agreed to take on the responsibility and will report to the membership at the next meeting
· Editor - Mike Hohn
o The State Geologist Journal has been sent out and will be in your in-box when you get home
o This version does not include everything he wanted, but his goal was to get a first draft out before this meeting
o Final version will be made available later in the year
o Update of the journal had not happened since 2008, so significant changes have been made. Mike will attempt to gather additional information to include in the final draft
o If you have memorials or awards citations, please send to Mike so he can include them in the final draft
o Mike understand the summaries have grown over time and are a lot of work, but please include as much as you can
· Secretary – Bob Swenson
o 38 states are represented at this meeting which is a very good turnout
o Membership statistics; 161 active members, associates, and honoraries, 20 active committees,
o Website has enjoyed 191,000 page views, and 5,700 logins
o More than 500 documents have been loaded on the website and included in the database
· Treasurer – Jon Arthur
o See details in submitted Treasurer report at: http://www.stategeologists.org/Group/meeting_documents.php?id=38
o Summary:
§ Fiscal Year 2010 income $36,303.00; Expenses $40,827.00
§ Shortfall of approximately $4500 due to outstanding membership dues and reduced investment income.
§ The shortfall would have been significantly larger because of the $10,000 invoice for services rendered through the AASG/AGI contract, however that expense was offset by the annual meeting receipts that include the $10,000 USGS grant.
§ Bank balance of about $30,000 is maintained and conservative investments are purchased on a one to five-year basis
§ Tax preparation for FY1011 is complete and submitted to the IRS
§ A Grant to facilitate the AASG Annual Meeting has been received from the USGS
§ All Foundation funds are now being handled by the AASG Foundation
§ Pick and Gavel expenses are submitted to the Foundation in consideration for reimbursement
o Discussion: Vicki McConnell points out that this budget assumes we are going forward with the AGI contract for $10,000, and that is not a certainty.
o Nick Tew clarified that the budget line item for paying the dues to the Stratigraphic Nomenclature Committee was a one-time expense and should be deleted from the budget.
o President Cobb reminded the members that this budget will be voted on and adopted at the Wednesday morning business meeting
· Vice President – Harvey Thorleifson
o Harvey reports that all preparations are in order for the future meetings as laid out in his annual report
§ See detailed report at http://www.stategeologists.org/Group/meeting_documents.php?id=38
o Summary;
§ The USGS coalition reception, and important networking event, will be held on Wednesday, 9-21. We will not have a display
§ The GSA booth at Denver was quite cramped and we have booked a double booth for Minneapolis for and extra $1000. Lee Allison reports that the additional cost will be covered by the AASG Geothermal program that is sharing the space
§ The postcards continue to be a hit and the inventory is currently sufficient
§ NCSL will be held in San Antonio August 8-11 and the Texas Survey and Scott Tinker will be representing AASG
§ The Mine Expo will be in Las Vegas, September 24-26 and booth materials will be forwarded from Minneapolis to the Nevada Survey
· Jon Price reports that they will only need the postcards and banner that will be combined with the Nevada survey booth
§ The Mid Year AASG meeting will be Tuesday October 11 @ 7:00 am. The incoming President will set the agenda and format of the meeting
§ The New Jersey Meeting was a great success with 109 attendees and turned a profit of $3078.45
§ Planning for the 2012 meeting in Austin Texas, and the 2013 meeting in Deadwood South Dakota is well underway
§ 3 additional meetings have been invited: Alaska in 2016; Missouri in 2017, and Montana in 2019
· 2018 is now open; please think about hosting
· Many surveys have not hosted for many years and Harvey put some pressure on folks by spouting some interesting statistics! Contact Harvey for details if so inclined
· President Elect – Vicki McConnell
o See Annual President Elect Report for details:
§ http://www.stategeologists.org/Group/meeting_documents.php?id=38
o The 2010 Fall Liaison on September 19-22 and the Spring Liaison occurred on March 13-16
o The ExCom and liaison planning meetings are now being headquartered at Club Quarters
o Fall Liaison contained a slightly different format because we decided to work with AGI during their Congressional Visits Day. We also participated in their day-long training session for congressional meetings
§ The activity involved a day and ½ of the AASG liaison meeting and was a done as a trial effort to see if this activity would be advantageous to AASG efforts in Washington.
§ The training and meetings were well run and useful, but the consensus of the attendees was that it was not worth the time spent
§ From here forward we will be participating in the AGI CVD only on an as-needed basis for those new AASG members that are not familiar with Hill visits
§ We will return to our normal schedule for liaison visits, but be focusing more on including SG’s from the key congressional office’s home state, as well as focusing on important seats on appropriation and other key committees
o Please read the full reports that are produced following the liaison meetings as there is a lot of information pertinent to your surveys.
o Also note the Action Items that are included following the meetings. We are putting special effort towards completing these in a timely manner and may require assistance from SG’s not present at liaison
o Expenditures for the Fall Liaison exceeded registration revenues by $1024.98 because of travel support
o Registration exceeded expenditures for the Spring Liaison by $511.21
o The ongoing Liaison Committee toolkit has been updated and revamped, and should streamline liaison planning for future President Elects
§ 2 key people that helped in this effort were Ms. Carol DuVernois from DOGAMI, and Linda Rowan, AGI Government Affairs Coordinator
§ The 2011 Pick and Gavel Award Banquet was held at the Cosmos Club on March 16 and the P&G award went to the Honorable Hal Rogers, Kentucky Congressman for the 5th District. Representative Rogers is also the chair of the House Appropriations Committee
§ The AASG Foundation will be covering the costs of hosting the P&G event for the first time, which came to $8,130.79
o If you are planning on attending an upcoming meeting, PLEASE get back with the organizers so they can plan the meetings accordingly
o Jim Cobb thanks Vicki for superb efforts as president elect
· President’s Report - Jim Cobb
o Please see President’s report for details:
§ http://www.stategeologists.org/Group/meeting_documents.php?id=38
o Summary of comments
§ Nick Tew stepped back in as Past President when David Wunsch retired
· This follows rules as written in the bylaws
§ A new historian will be elected at this meeting to replace the newly retired Bill Kelly
§ Bob Marvinney’s leadership as the Foundation liaison has been very rewarding and the group has moved on a number of initiatives and support to AASG
§ The Executive Committee has instituted monthly conference call that have proven to be quite productive
§ Honorary Associates are now designated as official distinction for AASG
· Final wording of the guidelines were worked out and voted on during the midyear 2010 meeting
§ The constitution and bylaws were amended to clean up outdated language, fix typographical errors, and include language concerning honorary associates
· These changes were approved at the midyear meeting
§ An Action Plan, designed to implement the AASG strategic plan that was drawn up in 2009, was finalized and approved at the midyear meeting
§ AGI was contracted for professional help in Washington DC to help focus liaison efforts on our key topics of NCGMA and Data preservation
· The Cost of the services will be $10,000 through Dec. 31, 2011
· The product will include a written summary of current legislation and issues of interest to AASG, a updated list of Congressional leaders on Key committees, and assistance with setting up meetings during liaison
· Vicki McConnell asked how we could measure the success of the investment
· Jim replied that the new contacts we have made, as well as the new focus of our liaison and “ask” is a big improvement over what we were doing
§ AASG committee structure was further streamlined and individual chairs (or co-chairs) are now responsible for soliciting members as needed
§ Severe cuts to the USGS in the President’s FY12 budget threatened to impact most of the external programs that AASG member surveys rely on. Dealing with this threat became a major focus of my Executive Committee and Spring Liaison
§ AIPG produced a very good white paper on the “Importance and Future Roles of State Geological Surveys”
· This was a great document that came at a critical time for many of our member Surveys.
· As special session will be held at this meeting entitled Defense of State Geological Surveys and Best Management Practices
§ I have been working with Treasurer Jon Arthur to identify and implement the correct tax status for AASG
· We have had discussion with both a tax lawyer and tax accountant concerning the pros and cons of changing to a 501 (c) 4 non-profit
· We currently do not have a definitive opinion about the best options and continue to work the issues
· We will likely need revisions to our bylaws once this is all worked out
§ Significant effort was undertaken by many AASG members to restore the USGS cuts made to the NCGMA and NGGDPP programs
· With the help of key members and Linda Rowan of AGI, the effort was successful in restoring the cuts in the house mark-up
· Past President - Nick Tew
o Primary responsibility is to chair the Nominating Committee which was made up of Chacko John, and Scott Tinker
o This year’s nominations include:
§ President – Vicki McConnell
§ President Elect - Harvey Thorleifson